West Ham United Under-18's bounced back to victory today as they beat Arsenal at Little Heath.
Jack Powell's 70th-minute goal was enough to silence the Gunners and ensured the young Hammers all the points. West Ham saw Elliot Lee's penalty saved and had several other chances to go ahead in the first half, but their patience and hard work was rewarded late in the second half. A corner kick from Matthias Fanimo was met by Powell at the back post who duly converted the strike.
The visitors were not without their chances to earn a share of the spoils and there was some defending to be done to thwart them, but Hammers defended well and saw out the game with the one goal being enough.
The Hammers were awarded a penalty early in the match for a handball in the area, but striker Lee saw his spot-kick saved by the Gunners keeper. West Ham continued to carve out chances, but the game was still level at half-time.
After the break, the Hammers were striving forward as well as soaking up the pressure of their opponents, who had opportunities to equalise. Pelly Ruddock was amongst those going close to increasing West Ham's lead but academy director Tony Carr was very pleased with his side's efforts.
"I thought overall we defended very well - Kenzer Lee, Jake Young, Frazer Shaw and Leo Chambers defended extremely well as a unit and while we missed other chances, we got the win and it is always good to beat Arsenal.
"We lost out narrowly last weekend (against Crystal Palace) and so it is good to bounce back and we did very well today, sometimes one goal is enough if you defend well."
The hosts soaked up pressure from their Academy counterparts who had chances to score, but Carr said the players knew that Arsenal would be stepping up after the break.
"We said to the boys at half-time that the game could go either way and that there would be only one goal that would win it and so it proved. It could have been we were rueing our missed chances in the first half, but fortunately we scored that one goal and it was a pleasing overall team performance."
West Ham United: Wootton, Young, Chambers, K Lee, F Shaw, Hurley (Sadlier 79), Powell, Ruddock, Fanimo (Vose 72), E Lee, Turgott